Matías Piñeiro: An American Cinematheque Retrospective

ABOUT THE SERIES: 

The American Cinematheque is thrilled to welcome acclaimed Argentine filmmaker Matías Piñeiro in-person for a celebration of his work including the LA premiere of his newest film YOU BURN ME, an audacious adaptation of “Sea Foam,” a chapter from Cesare Pavesse’s “Dialoghi con Leucò,” in which Piñeiro brings to the cinema a poetic language true to its source material. In addition to Pavesse’s work, Piñeiro has also lent his singular voice to adaptations of other literary authors, poets and playwrights, such as William Shakespeare, Sappho and Domingo F. Sarmiento. This retrospective features multiple in-person appearances, including Q&As, introductions, a live performance and a masterclass with Mr. Piñeiro himself.

Piñeiro often grapples with the many identities of an artist in dialogue with the work of the literary figures named above. In both VIOLA and ISABELLA, the inner-workings of the actor is examined, as the theater space becomes one of farce and personal drama that unravels when real life seeps into their artistic space during the various production stages of putting together a Shakespeare play. With HERMIA & HELENA, Piñeiro has his theater director-protagonist grapple with issues of both past and present, suggestive of the notion that one’s art is always drawing from the past, yet also pointing us to what lies ahead. With THEY ALL LIE, the filmmaker further explores the dichotomy between the theater’s relation to reality and its inherent isolation from the civilization we often correlate with reality.

This retrospective also features Hugo Fregonese’s ONE WAY STREET, curated by filmmaker Matías Piñeiro for our ongoing ‘Sunday Print Edition’ series. Our tribute continues after the in-person component of the series with THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE, THE STOLEN MAN and ROSALINDA.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina 1982 and based in New York since 2011, Matías Piñeiro is a film director and writer with feature and short films premiered in Berlinale, Locarno, Cannes, Toronto and New York Film Festival. His films usually spring from a variety of literary sources such as William Shakespeare, Cesare Pavese, Sappho and Domingo F. Sarmiento. He teaches cinema at Pratt Institute, New York and coordinates the filmmaking program at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, San Sebastian. He also has worked in film programming for Anthology Film Archives and Punto de Vista film festival. At present, he is developing two projects: the adaptation of Henry James’s The Lesson of the Master and a narrative-essay based on Francesco Petrarca’s Remedies for Life. YOU BURN ME is his latest feature.